Hayden Panettiere’s estranged mother Lesley Vogel cut ties with her daughter on the “advice of professionals”.
Hayden Panettiere’s mother has opened up about their strained relationship
The Heroes star, 36, has been estranged from her mom – who used to manage the actress’ career – for many years and has been lifting the lid on their strained relationship as she promotes her new memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning and now Vogel, 70, has hit back and explained she decided to embrace the “no-contact route”.
Vogel told New York Post column PageSix: “After 20 years of trauma, I took the advice of professionals and chose the no-contact route. As many parents of entertainment children [know], we are all too familiar with the painful observation of watching the self-destructive paths they sometimes choose.
“No parent hopes for this scenario; we want our children to be the best of themselves and live a peaceful, joyful life!
“Sadly, this is out of our control. You cannot save someone who does not want to be saved. Radical acceptance is the most difficult challenge any parent must embrace. Unfortunately, I have seen a great deal of such in my life experience.”
Hayden began her full-time career in 1994, when she played Sarah Roberts in the soap opera series One Life to Live, and she recently recalled developing a business-like relationship with her mother.
The actress – who has also starred in TV shows such as Nashville and Heroes – told the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast: “Everything was business.
“I became the confidant and the assistant and the therapist and the shoulder to cry on and everything but her child.”
Hayden eventually worked up the courage to sever their professional relationship with her mom when she was 19.
The Heroes star said: “I said to her, ‘I don’t want us to work together anymore. I just want you to be my mom’.”
Hayden also admitted that the response she received left a lasting impact.
The TV star said: “I remember being hopeful. But I also wasn’t expecting the reaction that I got, which was, ‘You owe me.’ And that’s all she said. And she walked out.”
Hayden said the exchange haunted her as she wondered what form of “payment” her mother expected, and admitted it was “disappointing to find out that it was money”.
She shared: “The fact that she didn’t care to have a relationship with me was a tough pill to swallow.”
